AN: I know, I know….don't hate me! Life happens. I wish I had about 6 extra hours in a day….DON'T WE ALL?

PS: I OWN NOTHING! THESE CHARACTERS BELONG TO SR….DEF NOT ME!

TBS

CH 11

"ALL CYLINDERS, PEOPLE!" Olivia commanded as she took a seat at the head of the table in her home office.

Since being released from the hospital, Harper had become the sole focus of Olivia's team and their energy. Spinning the story of how Fitz and Olivia met and conceived Harper had become the forefront of all the cases being worked. The staff wasted no time when they got the infamous text message from Olivia.

'11/10/2002'

Harper's birthday digits. To the staff of OPA and anyone considered family of Harper Pope, this was like a bat signal saying something was up.

As her team sat in front of her spouting off information and ideas on how to make this work, Olivia sat back; the wheels in her head were spinning out of control.

Huck, the computer genius, was in charge of working the perception from the social media standpoint. Abby, affectionately known to Harper as Auntie A, was in charge of running anonymous polls, making sure the general public was ok with everything happening. Harrison was using his motor mouth skills to WOO the press and in so many words corner them into reporting EXACTLY what he wanted.

As the meeting finished, Olivia excused herself to go check on Harper. Harper had made it her business to stay out of the way. She had been told by her mother that today was the day everything would come to light and a press conference was the way they were going to handle this. Still a bit weak from the surgery, Harper elected to take her time getting dressed; which also came in as a good excuse to NOT sit in on the meeting on how to capture her audience.

"Knock, knock…" Olivia said as she lightly tapped on Harper's bedroom door. She didn't want to startle her daughter, afraid she would cause her pain if she tightened up any muscles.

"It's open, Mom." Harper said. As Olivia entered, she overheard Harper ending her phone call with Nick. Olivia kept her remarks to herself regarding Harper's budding romance. MOST of the time anyway.

"You didn't have to end the call because of me," Olivia told her.

"It's fine. Nick and I were just going over ways to make Fi- I mean my dad like him more." Olivia's ears perked at the use of the 'D' word as Harper had treaded lightly in using it lately.

"What did you come up with?"

"So far we've got nothing much, but any plans we make will be ran by you first." Harper flashed the GRANT smile and Olivia couldn't help but smile back.

"Where'd everyone go?" Harper asked as she took a seat on her bed. Olivia followed suit, sitting indian-style on her daughter's bed to talk to her.

"Well, it's show time. They are gone to do what they do best. Harrison is going to meet his informant now to leak the info and Abby is going to put the finishing touches on the press conference."

Harper sighed. Olivia could read her daughter so well.

"What is it, baby?" She asked as she tucked a wild piece of Harper's now frizzy mane behind her ears. Harper's hair generally took the shape of a Caucasian woman, and frizz was just a part of her life. Period.

"I just…I want everything to be ok. Who cares who you slept with? Who Fitz slept with? Who my dad is? It's NONE of their business. I hate everyone is having to go through all these changes for me." The hurt in Harper's voice was evident.

"Baby, come here." Harper lay her head on her mother's thigh as Olivia stroked her daughter's hair, gently raking her nails over her scalp.

"Baby girl, I know this is a lot. We talked about this so much in the hospital, I thought I would be blue in the face by now. It could get ugly, pumpkin, but the important thing is for you to keep the same mentality you have now throughout the entire ordeal. People are going to say some mean things and there's not much we can do. We will get through this. I promise."

Harper was sniffling lightly now, a sign to Olivia that she was indeed shedding a few tears.

"Somewhere in another time, Fitz and you…you guys stayed together. I was born into two loving parents who never left my side for anything. You are a teacher, he is a business man, and you have me and 2 other kids….we have normal life. We don't go to award shows, movie premieres, or interviews. We go to backyard barbeques, chaperoned first dates and play dates, and skating rinks. Everything is….is…" Harper's voice began to fade off…

"Normal. Everything is normal, Harp." Fitz' deep voice filled the room all of a sudden. Neither Harper nor Olivia had heard the door open and Harper secretly wondered how much he had heard.

Harper sat upright as Fitz raised his eyebrows, silently asking for entrance to her bedroom. Once she nodded, he came in and stood over Olivia, rubbing circles in her shoulders.

In a whispered tone, Harper said, "Well, normal is a bit overrated anyways."

Fitz took a seat at Harp's computer desk and turned to face the two most important women in his life right now as he answered the unasked question in the room.

"Abby let me in. I was about to knock, but she opened the door to leave and-"

"It's alright. No need to explain." Olivia smiled at him. Fitz felt his heart constrict.

"Hey, I have a question for you." Fitz was not talking to Harper, and of course, she gave him her undivided attention.

"My family….I already told them. They are ecstatic and want to meet you. You have a lot of cousins that are fans and are dying to meet you. BOTH of you," Fitz finished as he grabbed Olivia's hand.

"I was thinking of taking you guys up to see them soon. Do you think this will be alright?" Fitz asked timidly. Harper looked into his eyes and smirked, loving the way he tip toed around her and her feelings. TO say she didn't need him to was definitely an understatement.

Harper shifted her gaze to her mother, silently asking her opinion on the topic. As she was about to respond, her IPhone EXPLODED with alerts. She bucked her eyes at the ever vibrating device, looking back at her parents as she recognized twitter alerts and facebook alerts going haywire.

"Well, well, well, I think the cat is out of the bag." Fitz joked.

Olivia stayed silent as Harper picked up the unrested phone and began to scroll through the feeds.

officialharppope OMG! Your dad is FTG3? LUCKY U!

Officialharppope Glad you are feeling better! You won the genetic lottery! Who knew? FTG3, you are STILL Fine as hell to me…daddy or not! (Harper blushed a bit, slightly embarrassed reading that one)

Officialharppope so, THIS is how you got famous hunh? Wish my mom had screwed and got a star kid too. (This one made Harper slightly flinch, but she showed no sign of any emotion as she read on.)

Officalharppope, don't worry about what people say! You are amazing and now we know where your natural talents came from. Beautiful family!

Harper noticed attached to the last tweet was a photo shopped picture of herself and her mother, and someone had added Fitz to the picture, making it look ALMOST believable.

She turned her phone around and Fitz eyes grew wider.

"Uncle Harrison. WOW" Harper smiled.

/

Fitz and Olivia excused themselves from Harper's room as she read over some of what social media had to say. She didn't think she was ready for real media as of yet, and she wanted to see what people were saying first online. Walking toward her bedroom, Fitz and Olivia stayed quiet. Fitz knew he needed to break the silence.

"Livvie, it's-"

"I'm fine."

"Liv, sweetheart,-"

"I'm fine."

"I'M NOT." Fitz bellowed louder than he cared to. He knew she was probably blaming herself for the entire ordeal even being an issue and while some of the blame was on her, A LOT was on him and his character back then too.

Olivia met his eyes as he said this, tears threatening to fall on her face immediately.

"How are you, really?"
"I'M FINE." Olivia said forcefully.

"Your name and Harper's is a headline. I doubt you are just fine."

"Fitz, can we not. Let's just-"

Olivia let her voice trail off as she finished getting ready for the press conference soon. Fitz knew to give Olivia her space so her exited her bedroom and went to wait in the foyer of the home, replaying his game plan in his head.

/

During the car ride over to the discreet location of the press conference, Olivia and Fitz didn't say much at all to each other. It wasn't an awkward silence, but the two looked very deep in thought.

Harper sat opposite her parents as she recited in her head what to say. As if she read her mind, Olivia spoke up.

"Oh, no, missy. You are to stay quiet. Visible, but quiet. Got it?" Olivia warned her daughter.

"Yeah, I got you." Harper agreed.

When the limo came to a stop, Harper's body guard got out of the vehicle, doing a quick sweep of the area. Finally taking notice to everyone outside, Harper smiled as she saw signs that read WE LOVE YOU, HARPER POPE-GRANT and HARPER IS MY ROLE MODEL.

She agreed to get out of the car and sign a few autographs. She was wearing a pair of bleached torn jeans and a Ramones T-shirt. Her hair was flowing freely down her back and she had on very light make up, a pair of gladiator shoes donning her feet. Once Olivia agreed, Harper shocked Fitz as she sat and waited for him to chime in on if she should go give a few autographs like she wanted to.

Fitz looked like he wanted to should hallelujah when he realized she was waiting on his response.

"Of course, you can go. I-WE will be right behind you." Fitz agreed. Harper shot him a quick smile and exited the vehicle. The crowd went absolutely wild as she waived, walking over to the man-made rails to shake a few hands, pose for a few selfies, and make a bit of fan small talk.

"Livvie, with everything that's been going on, I haven't had a chance to…well I…ACTUALLY, I was wondering if I could take you out. Ya know, like on a real date?" Olivia took the opportunity to smile at him, getting lost in his sea of blue eyes.

"I don't know, Fitz. I think we should focus on Harper." Olivia shot him down.

Fitz scooted closer to Olivia, pointing his index finger out the window.

"Looks like she's doing pretty great so far."

Olivia smiled at him over her shoulder and for a moment, she remembered how good it felt to have him touching and handling her body.

Get it together, dammit!

Fitz turned her head toward him, her smile from a few seconds ago was now almost gone. She licked her lips and listened to him.

"Oliva, Livvie…my Livvie. I know it's a lot going on at one time and I know this isn't the life you want right now. I also know that this isn't ideal for Harp right now, but with everything being out in the open, no one could hold anything against her."

"She's right, ya know." Olivia smiled to herself as she rested her body comfortably against him, leaning back for support.

"About what?"

"Some place, near, but not far, we have been together for quite some time now. We have kids, we are normal people. I wonder what that life is like," Olivia asked as she watched the fans squeal from a selfie from her daughter.

"Livvie, I will breathe my last breath before I let anything or anyone come between us. Say you will go out with me. You know you want to." Fitz said the last part in a very low whisper, drawing goosebumps to Olivia's arms.

"I do." She whispered, "But Harp comes first."

"She always will. I agree. She IS coming first. Now, when are you coming?"
Olivia turned around to stare into his eyes and get lost again. She felt her resolve dissipating as he hit her with that DAMN Grant smile again.

"Ok." She agreed.

"Ok?" Fitz wanted her to clarify.

"Ok, I'll go with you. Of course, I will." Olivia smiled.

Fitz smiled as well, releasing a deep breathe. He wanted to badly to kiss her in that moment, but knowing how nervous she was, he opted to wait.

Olivia went to reach for the car door handle, and Fitz stopped her. She turned to look at him.

"One minute?"
Olivia looked back towards Harper, who was slowly working her way down the line of fans that were lucky enough to get closer to her since her body guards were surrounding her.
"One Minute." Olivia agreed, and with that, she moved to lay her head on Fitz' chest, wrapping her arms around his torso and breathing in his scent.

Both enjoyed the silence the limo brought.

Neither saw Harper being approached by Nurse Quinn from the hospital.

AN: Hey yall! I'm back…kinda….but thanks for sticking with this story! I know where it's gonna end and I'm already thinking of a sequel….maybe even a series! This has turned out to be a great story…

Today (06/05), my one and only princess turned 6! Between work, planning her FROZEN themed shindig, and still being a good fiancé, (LOL), I finally finished this chapter.

So….going public? I am excited to see how Fitz' family meeting goes. Olivia agreed to date Fitz, even though they are taking it slow, and I see fireworks igniting between them again….DO YOU?

Ideas? Review? PLEASE DO! I love reading them as they let me know you guys are still with me somewhere out there.

Happy Reading!
XOXO